Welcome to BeeShelf — BeeShelf docs

BeeShelf is a cloud library system. You catalog books by scanning them with a phone, lend and return them in a tap, and give your members a catalog they can search, browse, and explore from their own phones. Everything runs in the browser, so there’s no software to install and nothing to keep updated.

There are three places you’ll use it, each built for a different person.

The three surfaces

The Staff Console is where the library runs. Librarians catalog books, check them in and out, manage members, run a stocktake, see what readers are asking for, and change the settings. It’s built for a desktop or laptop, with a phone used as the scanner when you need to work away from the desk.

The reader app is what your members see. They search the shelves, discover books, borrow and reserve, and manage their own account, mostly from a phone. It carries your library’s name and colour, not ours.

Admin settings live inside the Staff Console, under Settings. That’s where you brand the library, set the lending rules, and look after privacy and your data. There’s no separate admin tool to learn.

The Staff Console — the Catalog tab, with the seven top tabs across the top — The Staff Console. The seven tabs across the top are the whole library: Catalog, Circulation, Stocktake, Requests, Members, Reports, and Settings.

Your library’s address

Every library on BeeShelf has its own web address, based on a short name (a “slug”) you choose when you sign up. If your slug is riverside, then:

Readers open the app at riverside.bshelf.app
Staff sign in at riverside.bshelf.app/staff

The two surfaces share the same address, just with /staff on the end for the console. Bookmark whichever one you use.

Where to go next

If you’re a librarian setting up for the first time, read The ten-minute setup.
If you just need to sign in, see Signing in.
Otherwise, jump to the section for your role in the sidebar.